Striking care workers get employer to negotiate

Public service union UNISON reports that the Medirest private company will give its 2,200 staff, who provide cleaning, portering and catering services in NHS hospitals across England, will see their pay increase by an average of 5% from the beginning of June. The lowest pay rate will rise from £8.75 (EUR 9.80) to £9.21 (EUR 10.30) an hour, bringing it in line with the minimum rate for directly employed health workers.

The three main public service trade unions in the health sector - Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl - took part in the first round of negotiations with the ARAN employers' organisation over renewing the collective agreement covering 550000 healthworkers. As well as ensuring that the basic pay agreement provides for the average €85 a month increase foreseen across the public sector, the unions are particularly concerned to address issues around work organisation and working time. They also emphasise that after eight years without any negotiations, there have been many changes in the sector in terms

Strike action by workers at university hospitals in Essen and Düsseldorf in western Germany has helped push employers to the negotiating table to discuss measures to reduce workloads - a longstanding issue that the trade union ver.di is trying to address across the health and social services sectors. The union and the TdL employer organisation have finally agreed on the key points for the negotiations. These include measures to reduce the pressure on staff, future procedures to address staffing requirements and what to do when there is not enough staff, immediate measures to reduce workloads